European Capitals of Culture: Commission
proposes a new selection process

The European Commission adopted today a proposal for a new process to
select European Capitals of Culture. When in place, the new regulation will
strengthen the competitive element of the selection process, increase the role
of the selection panel, introduce a monitoring phase, make the selection
criteria clearer, and increase the emphasis on a European dimension.

“Over the last 20 years, the European Capital of Culture has become one
of the European Union’s most successful and popular actions.” said
Ján Figel’, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and
Multilingualism, because it gives cities a period of one year during which they
are given a chance to showcase their cultural life and cultural development. It
has a strong track record in creating jobs, generating new investment and
boosting cultural tourism. The new rules represent a balanced compromise between
the interests of Member States in the Capital of Culture and the need to have a
strong European dimension. The changes proposed will make the selection process
more rigorous, more transparent, and better equipped to cater for the ever
increasing numbers of culturally vibrant cities vying to be the European Capital
of Culture each year."

During the debate concerning the modification of the current decision which
aimed at integrating the Member States which joined the EU in May 2004, the
European Parliament expressed concerns about the current selection process,
pointing out a number of weaknesses, in particular with regard to the
“European dimension” of the action. In its proposal, the Commission
encourages Member States to organise competition at national level
between interested cities. To manage this competition it proposes to
implement a “mixed” selection panel consisting of experts
designated by the European institutions and by the Member States concerned. This
selection process, organised in 2 stages, would start 6 years before the event
is due to begin and would end when the Council designates the European Capitals
of Culture for a given year around 4 years before the event.

The Commission also proposes establishing a “European monitoring
panel” composed of the experts designated by the European
institutions, for the period after the designation of the European Capitals of
Culture until the start of the event. It would provide cities with support
and guidance in further elaborating their programme, focusing on the
European dimension of the programme and contributing, wherever necessary, to
ensuring the European added-value of the programme.

Furthermore, the Commission’s proposal defines the criteria that
the action has to comply with, highlighting the European added value.

The European Commission will award a prize to the designated city if
the preparation phase of the programme meets the objectives and the criteria of
the action, particularly concerning the European dimension. This would be paid
via the framework programme for Culture (Culture 2007 from 2007) as is the case
with current grants to the European Capitals of Culture. At this stage, the
Commission’s proposal for the Culture 2007 programme would allow up to a
tripling of the Community financial contribution to each individual European
Capital of Culture.

The current chronological list of “twin” Members States
entitled to propose cities to the title for the period 2009-2019 will remain
unchanged [1].

The proposal would enter into force as of 2007. This means that the first
European Capitals of Culture to be designated by the new process will stage the
event in 2013 (cities will be located in France and Slovakia). Nevertheless, the
cities designated as European Capitals of Culture for 2010, 2011 and 2012 will
undergo the monitoring process.